Former Spain coach Aragones dies at 75

FILE - In this March 23, 2007 file photo, Spain coach Luis Aragones gestures during a press conference in Madrid. Spanish football federation said former Spain coach Aragones has died, aged 75. As a player he played for Spain 11 times and coached several Spanish clubs including Atletico Madrid and Barcelona before going on to coach the Spanish national team, winning the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)
The Associated Press

FILE - In this March 23, 2007 file photo, Spain coach Luis Aragones gestures during a press conference in Madrid. Spanish football federation said former Spain coach Aragones has died, aged 75. As a player he played for Spain 11 times and coached several Spanish clubs including Atletico Madrid and Barcelona before going on to coach the Spanish national team, winning the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - In this June 30, 2008 file photo, players of the Spanish national soccer team lift coach Luis Aragones in the air during a homecoming event in Madrid after winning the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships final against Germany. Spanish football federation said former Spain coach Aragones has died, aged 75. As a player he played for Spain 11 times and coached several Spanish clubs including Atletico Madrid and Barcelona before going on to coach the Spanish national team, winning the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)The Associated Press

FILE - In this June 30, 2008 file photo, players of the Spanish national soccer team lift coach Luis Aragones in the air during a homecoming event in Madrid after winning the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships final against Germany. Spanish football federation said former Spain coach Aragones has died, aged 75. As a player he played for Spain 11 times and coached several Spanish clubs including Atletico Madrid and Barcelona before going on to coach the Spanish national team, winning the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)

MADRID (AP) — Luis Aragones, the former soccer coach who shaped the rise of Spain's national team from a perennial underachiever to global powerhouse with a long-awaited title at the 2008 European Championship, has died. He was 75.

The Spanish soccer federation announced the death early Saturday, saying Aragones died at a Madrid hospital. It did not disclose the cause of death.

Federation president Angel Maria Villar said Aragones would be remembered as "very special" — both for his contributions to Spanish sports and as a person.

"With him we have lived the beginning of an extraordinary phase in football as well as for Spanish society," Villar said. "This has been a painful dawn for our football."

Aragones had a successful playing career as a sharpshooting international forward who played 11 games for Spain, and then spent the rest of his life as a much-traveled coach.

However, he will mostly be remembered for what happened on June 29, 2008, when his team beat Germany 1-0 in Vienna to claim its first major title in 44 years.

That was the culmination of his four-year reign as Spain coach, having taken over a team that for the last 20 years had earned a reputation for always coming up short in major tournaments.

But Aragones instilled a new sense of belief in his players, even after losing to France in the second round of the 2006 World Cup. He also made the team adopt the quick-passing "tiki-taka" style of soccer made famous by Barcelona, and which his players came close to perfecting at Euro 2008.

Led by Barcelona midfielders Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta — and the goalscoring of David Villa — Spain went undefeated through the tournament, but needed a penalty shootout against Italy to advance from the quarterfinals.

While Aragones stepped down after the tournament, the team used the same system as it went on to win its first World Cup two years later and then added an unprecedented third straight major title at Euro 2012 under his successor Vicente del Bosque.

Aragones' time in charge wasn't without controversy, though.

He made a racist slur about France striker Thierry Henry — who is black — during a training session in October, 2004, and followed that remark with an outburst about England's colonial past. His comments were believed to have prompted ugly racist chants directed at England's black players during a friendly against Spain in Madrid.

The Spanish Football Federation refused to bow to pressure to fire Aragones, although it fined him 3,000 euros, a punishment which many felt was too lenient.

Denying he was a racist, Aragones explained that his comment about Henry was an attempt to motivate forward Jose Antonio Reyes, and he received important backing from several black players he had coached previously.

In February, 2007, Aragones won a legal appeal against the Spanish Committee for Sporting Discipline's ruling that his behavior could have fostered "violent, racist or xenophobic acts."

Spanish media also often complained about his grouchy demeanor and had regularly called for his dismissal during the two years before the team's triumph. There was another uproar toward the end of 2006 when he dropped the national team's all-time leading scorer and captain, Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez, arguing that he was past his prime.